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Anaheim's Jean-Francois Jacques was suspended for the remainder of the pre-season and five regular season games on Tuesday. ((Jeff Gross/Getty Images))

Anaheim Ducks forward Jean-Francois Jacques has been suspended for the remainder of the pre-season and five regular season games for an incident against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 24.

NHL senior vice-president of player safety Brendan Shanahan announced the suspension on Tuesday in a press release.

Jacques left the bench on a legal line change with the intent of starting a fight with Canucks forward Mike Duco at 16:31 of the third period, according to the release. The forward received a minor penalty for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct, as well as a major for fighting.

As he has done with prior suspensions, Shanahan offered a detailed explanation in avideo.

"As the video shows, Jacques comes on the ice on a legal line change, but he skates the entire width of the ice surface, taking a direct path to his opponent with the sole purpose of starting a fight," he said.

"He makes no attempt to take part in the play."

It was in direct violation of Rule 70.2, in which players who leave their own bench and commence an altercation may be subject to penalization.

Since the incident occurred in the final five minutes of the game, he also got an automatic one-game ban for his actions.

He'll forfeit $17,567.55 US in salary, which goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

The Montreal native will miss pre-season tilts against the Canucks on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings on Sept. 30 and against Jokerit in Helsinki, Finland.

He'll also miss regular season clashes with the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 7 — to be played in Helsinki — a game against the New York Rangers in Stockholm, Sweden, two games against the San Jose Sharks and a contest with the St. Louis Blues.

The 26-year-old is eligible to return to game action Oct. 21 against the Dallas Stars.

It wasn't the first suspension this off-season, though.

On Monday, Shanahan handed out an 11-game ban to Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman James Wisniewski and a six-game suspension to Minnesota Wild forward Brad Staubitz.

Last week, the dean of discipline doled out a two-game suspension to Sabres forward Brad Boyes and a 10-game penalty to Philadelphia Flyers forward Jody Shelley, as well as a five-game suspension for Calgary Flames forward Pierre Letourneau-Leblond.